Speaking at a forum, organised by Karangkraf Media Group here, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia’s Teo Kok Seong said vernacular schools focused largely on ethnicity and culture, giving the impression that these were the only topics being taught in such schools.

Teo, who is a Principal Fellow at UKM’s Institute of Ethnic Studies, pointed out that there were different education streams in Malaysia, namely national schools, vernacular schools, religious schools and private schools.

The government, he noted, only recognised national schools, vernacular schools and religious schools.

Teo then suggested a single stream, which he proposed be called Sekolah Kebangsaan 1 Malaysia, incorporating academics, spiritual studies and ethnic studies in their curriculum.

“The spiritual studies would be able to teach students about their own religions, including Islam, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and others, while ethnic studies could teach different languages, such as Mandarin, Tamil, Telugu and even the aboriginal languages, and cultures.”

Multiracial Reverted Muslims (MRM) President Firdaus Wong, who was present at the forum, agreed with Teo, saying that although bringing youngsters of different races together under a single school system would bring about small conflicts at first, it was better for the long run.

“If we gather all these youngsters under a single school, then there is bound to be friction, but in the long run, they will be able to get to know one another better, which in turn will help in uniting them.”